[imc-scotland-discussion] video quality

[chris]

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Having spent a frustrating evening helping that video piece get uploaded
to the site by its creator (who is one of us Indymedia folk) I want to
make a few points.

If the complaints about quality relate to the video's content then
that's an aesthetic judgement. I think it works as a version of the same
sort of newspiece you'd get on the TV and a pleasant change from the
frantic THESE PEOPLE ARE EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL stuff more common on IMCs. Folk
can have their own opinion and direct it to the filmaker if they want.

If the complaints are related to the quality of the image or sound then
that's a technical / user feedback issue that needs to be addressed
before we go further in making any kind of video content.

The first 3 attempts to get the video online were as a 20-30Mb file that
looked a lot better. Each time, after 10-15 minutes (on a fast
connection, too) without feedback, the site dumped us out to the
Newswire without feedback as to whether the video had been successfully
 uploaded, or what the problem was.

Finally, we attempted to upload the text and video seperately. This only
suceeded once we shrunk the file down to about 6 Mb, with obvious
drawbacks in picture and audio quality.

There are a bewildering array of video codecs, file formats and bitrates
in use. We aren't providing any guidance about which of these we want to
be used, or what size of file the server can cope with.

It seems kind of churlish to me to complain about the quality of videos
submitted when it's so difficult to do. And that's not intended to knock
anyone. I had no idea uploading videos was an issue before I tried to do
it. If we want more videos on the site, of better quality, then it needs
to be dealt with. There'll be a video of the last Critical Mass made
soon but it's unlikely to get uploaded without help.

I'd be up for writing documentation to help but I have minimal
understanding of the issues. What format will work flawlessly on the
widest range of computer OSes. What's the maximum file / display size or
a bitrate we can handle? etc.

- --
chris h

M74 Extension - complete nonsense
	www.jam74.org
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